1. Field of the Invention
a. The present invention relates to methods for preventing or treating an eye disease using adiponectin.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dry eye (dry eye syndrome) is a common disease which is occurred in 20% of Korean adults. It is known as a disease which can damage to the ocular surface by inducing ocular uncomfortable feeling, decreased visual acuity and instability of tear film caused by tears and inflammation of ocular surface (cornea and conjunctiva) rather than simple lack of tears. This disease is believed to have features such as ocular pain, corneal surface irregularity, blurred and fluctuating vision and increased risk of corneal ulcer; however, the pathogenesis of dry eye disease has not been clearly established. However, there are increasing studies to support that inflammation plays an important role in dry eye disease characterized by inflammatory cell infiltration, increased expression of immune activation molecules and adhesion molecules, Th1 and Th17 responses, apoptosis markers and chemokine1-5.
Adiponectin is a hormone protein secreted mainly by the adipose tissue6 and has many pleiotropic effects such as protective adipocytokine in obesity-related metabolic and cardiovascular disorders7-9. It is associated to attenuation of insulin resistance, atherosclerosis and cardiac remodeling. Accumulating evidence suggests that adiponectin also exert a potent immunoregulatory effect, as evidenced by increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) and decreased levels of pro-inflammatory IL-6, TNF-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ10-12.
Adiponectin was shown to reduce the phagocytic activity of macrophages and inhibit the production of chemokines and chemokine receptors. It is known to have effects on anti-diabetic, anti-atherosclerosis, of anti-tumor formation and anti-inflammatory by inhibiting inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-alpha), interleukin-6 and interferon-γ (interferon-gamma)14. In addition, the anti-inflammatory effect of adiponectin in chronic inflammatory diseases such as uveitis, and rheumatoid arthritis13 has been reported in several clinical and experiment studies15. It is now accepted that adiponectin can have anti-inflammatory effects16-17. Although there is considerable evidence of the roles of adiponectin in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, very little is known about roles of adiponectin in dry eye disease. To date, studies evaluating the efficacy of the topical application of adiponectin have not been performed.
Throughout this application, several patents and publications are referenced and citations are provided in parentheses. The disclosures of these patents and publications are incorporated herein by reference in order to more fully describe this invention and the state of the art to which this invention pertains.